Political Quotes

“I would like to thank the Senator from Illinois not only for the chance to help with this effort, but more importantly for his steadfast work to strengthen our bond with the countries of Africa. We were on the floor last year talking about the importance of this bill--the importance of creating a comprehensive trade strategy with Africa. I know the Senator from Illinois made a valiant effort to get our bill through at the end of the last Congress, but he ran into some resistance. It is my hope that as we re-introduce this bill, we can assuage any outstanding concerns and get this bill passed early in this session. As the Senator from Illinois stated, Africa is home to many of the few emerging bright spots in a tough global economy. In fact, an article from The Economist this week called it the ``hottest frontier.'' They are right. Within the next decade, Africa will be home to 7 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world--Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Rwanda, Mozambique and Angola. The Economist article pointed out that by 2020, more than half of African households will have enough income to spend some on non-essentials and that within three decades, the continent will have a larger working age population than China. When I served in the House, I was on the Africa Subcommittee and traveled often to the continent. I still make trips there to visit with their leaders and the top issue on every meeting agenda continues to be trade.…”